New Art (of Teaching)

Last week all the ATPs and I had a fun team outing to Painting with a Twist.  It was a fun way to bond and just enjoy conversations that didn't have to revolve around students or teaching.

 

 

It was fun to see how each teacher's painting was unique, even though we were recieving the same instructions.  (A good reminder about the unique talents of each kiddo, too!). 

 

ATP with her masterpiece

ATP #3's lovely "impressionistic" work

 

 

I LOVE these painting studios!  They make art so accessible and low-pressure and FUN.  But it's also the third time I have gone to one.  And I can only hang so many of these in my house!  So the last time I went, one of my brilliant friends suggested "making it work" for my classroom.  Genius!

 

On that outing, I painted this cute owl and added a quote (with my own owly twist...and correct grammar, of course!) from The Help.

 

 

 

So for this tree guy I remembered one of my grandma's favorite poems by Joyce Kilmer:

 

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

 

I painted the first two lines on my canvas, and boom: Poet-Tree!  (Get it?!  Sorry...my dad would love that one!)

My finished painting

 

So here it hangs in my classroom with other lovely student art work.  (And mentor sentences!)

 



 

20 Things in the Classroom

Last week I shared the latest vid from Kid President. 

 

This week, I found this awesome classroom application of one of his sweet quotes.  Thanks to 4th grade teacher Ms. Revesz in MI for the idea of creating a "compliment wall."  I LOVE it and am totally stealing it soon!

 

Newest Decor

Last year I shared how I create a pillow out of past team shirts in this post.  (By the way, I still get excited to say stuff like that because it means I've been blogging for a year, woot!)

 

Well this past long weekend I created the newest in my line up.  Check it out!  And kiss yo' brain while you're at it!  :)

 

My students are loving it already!

Books as Cool as Ice

Okay... cheesy, I know....but check out my newly reorganized teacher bookshelf using $2 ice buckets from Walmart!

 

 

It just looks so much better and now I can actually FIND the book I'm looking for based on the unit or concept.  I'm trying to decide if I'll label them, or leave them open with the possibility of regrouping and shuffling around throughout the year.

 

PS- A very happy birthday to the best sister a girl could ask for!  Love you forever, Kathleen!

 

 



Born for the Stage

 

A while ago I found some Pinspiration to create a stage for my classroom for poetry competitions, presentations, and the like.  Having the world's handiest dad, I emailed him this post along with my idea.

 

Papa put his own twist and engineering on it and I LOVE the final product.

 

 

ATP and I tried it out today (with a little Selena Gomez...ha ha).  Don't you love the rope lighting?


 

 I need to still get some curtains to really make it pop.  I'm thinking I'll get some cheap red flat sheets and tension rods to hang them from my ceiling.

 

I can't wait to bust this bad boy out for our first poetry competition.  It's going to really step it up a notch (literally).

You are Wise

This past weekend I celebrated a friend's upcoming wedding at her bachelorette party in Louisville.  Before dinner, we went to a painting studio called Pinot's Palette.  It was a lovely way to get to know her friends.

 

The painting that evening was a cutie little owl.

 

 

Or this guy

 

 

The atmosphere was so fun and the teachers were very informative and entertaining.

 

Painting in action

 

The whole class

 

 

As I was working, I was wondering where I would actually hang my owl at my house.  One friend, in a stroke of genius, suggested adding a quote for my classroom.  Love it!

 

I put a twist on the famous quote from The Help, and painted onto it, "You are kind.  You are wise.  You are important." 

 

Can't wait to hang it in my classroom!

 

 

Check out all of our masterpieces.

 

 

Inexpensive Classroom Posters

I posted earlier this week on classroom posters. 

I found this tutorial from MrsHarrisTeaches.com about how to convert Pinterest printable files (or any image for that matter) into an inexpensive poster from Staples.  Who doesn't want that?

Which printables have you been wanting for your classroom??  Bonus: check out Krissy Venosdale's flikr collection of free classroom posters here.

Quote Board

This is the time of year when we dream about revamping our classrooms for next year.  One easy way to do that is through printables, signs, and quotes. 

I have some favorites in my room already, but here are some I'm planning to add this coming year.

 

Anyone else so excited for the new season of Project Runway?!

Poetry Masterpieces

Check out these amazing masterpieces!  I have been so, so impressed with my poets this year and am loving the gallery that has developed in my room. 

 

 

A close-up of my favorite watercolor:

Beautiful symbolism in her work:

I think this piece is going to inspire a whole separate post later this week.  This little poet blew me away with all of his revision and hard work!  He was inspired by Billy Collins poem On Turning Ten.

This one makes me almost like geese!  (Don't mind the messy shelf in the background!)

Masterpieces for SURE!

March Madness Champion!

Our champion has been decided!  It was down to Harry Potter versus Fever 1793.

And the winner is...

 

Fever 1973 by Laurie Halse Anderson!

 

 

What a shock!  It was a narrow victory...down to the buzzer if you will!  If you haven't read it, my students and I highly recommend you do now! 

 

Happy March Madness!  Looking forward to next year's already!

 

Final Two!

We're down to the final two in March Madness! 

 

The latest round has brough us to Harry Potter versus Fever 1793.  I'm shocked the latter beat out The Hunger Games!  Who said historical fiction is boring?  My students and I love it!

 

Final Four

We're down the Final Four in our March Madness Brackets!

Today I added a twist!  Students had a chance to influence their classmates' votes by writing one paragraph about their favorite book.  Fever 1763 and Rules have some avid fans!

sweet student strategizing which book to write about

With that being said, here are the results:  We're down to Harry Potter versus Narnia and Fever 1793 versus the Hunger Games.  It's an exciting race!

Elite Eight

My students were so excited when they walked in this morning about March Madness!  I love this group of boys that gathered.  I think this is the moment when one said, "This is like Duke versus Indiana!"*

I hope that I am able to ride the wave of NCAA March Madness and spark some reading madness!  I think they were about to start taking bets...

I only wish that I could open a pool on this.  I know I would do much better than basketball!

So here it is!  The winners of the "East Conference": Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Fever 1793, the Hunger Games, and Rules.  I think my favorite match up is Fever versus Wimpy Kid.  Could there be any more dissimilar books?  It's going to be an exciting division for sure!

And the winners of the "West Conference": Harry Potter, The Tale of Despereaux, Matilda, and Narnia.

 

Stay tuned for the announcement of the Final Four next week!

 

*Thanks to CJ Hop for confirming that this did indeed make sense.  My basketball knowledge is severely lacking.

Sweet Sixteen

Earlier this week I wrote about some Pinspiration for March Madness.  Our snow day was the perfect chance to get it together.  I brainstormed some of my students' and my favorite books and printed out their covers.  After school I put it all up in my room with the "brackets."  And here it is in all its glory!

I love the way it looks. The colors look awesome and I can't wait for my students to see it.  Ultimately, I hope it encourages students to try a new book or two and gets them excited about reading.

For round one I tried to think about some good pairings: by genre, author, theme, etc.  I think you could do this any way you like, though.  "Seeding" them would be an interesting twist.

Here are the contenders in round one: Percy vs Harry, Despereaux vs Winn-Dixie, Matila vs Charlie (and the Chocolate Factory), Narnia vs Terabithia.

In the "East Division" we have: Greg (the "Wimpy Kid") vs Captain Underpants, Fever 1793 vs Chains (both by the fabulous Laurie Halse Anderson), Katniss vs Gregor (Suzanne Collins 4 eva!), and Rules vs Wonder, two of my most recent favorites.

A close-up of the covers (sorry about the glare/focus!)

 

 

I am letting the students determine what their decision is based on.  Of course I know they haven't all read each book, so they had the option of opting out of a match-up.  Our gifted teacher suggested that voting could also be based on the character traits of the protagonist.  I'm sure there are other great ways to do it, too!  I'll just be happy if it inspired someone to try a new book!

 

Who will win?  Any predicitions?

March Madness

I was looking around on Pinterest and spotted this awesome idea for March Madness.

source: flikr by covs97

I am totally stealing this idea and will share my version soon!

I have a colleague who has done a similar project with poetry and has the students each bring in an entry of a favorite published poem. 

Anything fun you're doing to get into the spirit of competition?

Can I Get An Amen?!

Anyone have a day like this?

Some days we just need to set smaller goals and be happy with those!

Enjoy your weekend!

Classroom Tour pt 10- The Finale! (and total hodge podge)

My tour is coming to a close today.  I have just two more features to share with you.

 

We're in the midst of our reading workshop unit on nonfiction.  One component of the unit is allowing students access to topically-organized mentor texts.  I ordered these "Basic Stack Baskets" from the Container Store to keep them looking neat but also easy to borrow.  I used lables from Scholastic (they were free a few months ago with a book club order) and attached them with book rings.

 

I also wanted to share my collection of former team t-shirts.  Read more about how I created these here.

 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my classroom and maybe got an idea or two to use in your own space.